You are using it correctly Chris, although you can just back into pose mode by hitting the “To Bone” button. It’s the same one that said “edit”. If you jump back “to bone” with the button it will automatically hide your widget shapes (not the bones)
What you are seeing stay behind is the shape that is used for the bone – not the actual bone.
Another way to hide this collection is by using the “hide collection” toggle button, or even in the outliner.
If you can record a video of how you got it to throw the error that would be helpful.
I will try to fix the code to stop that from happening, or at least explain what might be happening instead of breaking.